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Who Watches the Watchers?

I’m not planning on talking about all the issues with Alan Moore. Because everyone else has done that, and I honestly don’t care. Dc is out to make money that is what companies do. Moore didn’t know it was going to take off the way it did when he signed his rights to it away, so he made that choice. You do that when you want to get your name out there. It is the way it goes and Writers get screwed all the time. The only reason people care is because he is a big name, then it is ‘wrong’. Companies do this all the time to writers who aren’t as famous, it is the nature of the beast. So no, I don’t think it’s wrong. If I could get paid for my creative writing, I would sell out in a heartbeat. Creative intrigue on some level, is bullshit. It’s all about making money. Like everything else in life. That being said, on with the reviews.

So I have picked up the first three of the Before Watchmen series, and if you want my honest opinion, out of all of them, pick up Minute Men. I think it is the best written so far and one of the more put together stories. It starts with Nite owl writing his autobiography, Under the Hood, and he address everyone in the team very well. While I’m usually against framing techniques, were you have one character telling a story, because it usually gets dropped or doesn’t matter; but I think in Minute Men it works really well. Because they also use it to tell us about Nite Owl too! he isn’t just treated as a framing tool, he is a character too. When I talked about the Free Avengers #1 and Justice League #1, I said Justice League won because it didn’t try to over sell me with a lot of characters. Well I vote Minute Men is better than both of them. Yes, it introduces the whole team, and quickly, but it does in such a way that just gives you a sense of all it. They take the time to show you who is who in the story. Yes, it is just a set up, but it is a well written set up.

This scene I think is one of the most powerful things I have read in a while.

The other thing that is great, is characters that Watchmen just glossed over, like the Silhouette or Dollar Bill, are addressed. I’m hoping Silhouette is getting to be in Minute Men because I always wanted to know more about her. We knew she was murdered because she was a lesbian, so it is nice to see if she was good person or not. Watchmen showed that just because you are a hero, doesn’t mean you are good. And I also feel that it did a better job setting up the Comedian than the stand alone that he has. The goal for this issue was to set up the major players, which it did well. It feels like how the original Watchmen felt to me. (Granted, it has been a long time since I read Watchmen, and honestly, I prefer V for Vendetta. But that is because I love Orwell’s 1984 and it just feels like it is that world.) Minute Men tells a very tight story, the other two, not so much.

What…I don’t even…

Which brings me to the other two series….which is just….Meh. I really am not a fan on how The Comedian is presented as JFK’s buddy, and how he is the one who killed Marilyn Monroe; because Jackie Kennedy paid him to. Or at least talked him into it. That was just a wall banger moment for me. I honestly don’t understand the point because, well, we are talking about a woman, who when her husband was shot right next to her, she didn’t take off the suit that was covered in his blood. I know this is an alternative history, but I didn’t feel that there was enough set up for Jackie to talk Eddie into killing Marilyn. It kinda comes out of nowhere. There wasn’t anything established to explain why she is trying to get Eddie kill Monroe. What does she know? It was just poorly written. It never tells us what Monroe knows , but Jackie says she knows something and has a loose tongue….mmmm…okay? It feel it was there because we just needed him to do something that is Comedianish, which I guess killing Monroe is? We already know he is a dick, we saw him shot his pregnant Asian baby mama in the chest in Watchmen. You didn’t need this. And the end was just cliqued. I’m going to pick up issue two, but if the story is around the same as this one, I won’t be picking up the rest.

Yea….living in your mother’s shadow sucks

The Silk Spectre was just a little teen angst and that always kind of annoys me. But the story is told like she is a teenager and that is how it should feel. I can’t argue that one. She is living in her mother’s shadow and she hates it. This is how superhero kids would act. Laurel is pretty well rounded as a character, my problem comes in with her male counterpart, Greg. He was reeking a bit of a Mary Sue and that is always annoying. But even that isn’t too bad. It’s got a few good moments, like when Laurel lays out this girl, Betsy, who has been a cunt to her because the plot demanded it. And that her name is Betsy, and she wants Greg who is in Lurv with Laurel. It ends with them running away to California.

So yea….the other two aren’t bad…they are just, there. If you are going to pick one up out of these three, I think Minute Men is the way to go. Yea, there isn’t a lot of story meat in that one, yet, but I have a good feeling about it.